Four Blind men gathered around an elephant to discuss and decide what it was. The first, being situated at the back end, felt the elephants leg, and said, “Well, I feel a firm and sturdy trunk, so this MUST be a tree!”

The second blind man, positioned at the elephant’s mid-section, put his hands on the elephant’s side, “It’s a heavy and impenatrable barrier. Clearly, this is a wall of some kind!”

The third man, situated near the elephant’s head, caressed and rubbed the elephants ears commenting, “Terribly large, flaps. This thing must be made of leaves!”

The fourth man was at the elephants trunk, and felt up and down the entire length, and finally concluded, “You are all mistaken, this thing is most certainly a snake!”

Life is an elephant. Are you blindly trusting your faulty perceptions, or can you move out of the realm of your own understanding to formulate a complete view of reality? Remember, you need not understand life in order to enjoy it.

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About OneBreathMeditation

I have been meditating for 8 years, and while I don't consider myself an expert, I know I'm knowledgeable about the subject, and can possibly provide help to others who want to experience the enriching benefits of meditation.

8 Responses to Blind men and the Elephant

Oh yes, wonderful. This is so true. No, you don’t need to understand each moment to just be with it, go with it, even if it’s hard, just BE and enjoy. Even the tough stuff is a joy, it means you’re ALIVE! Brilliant post. 🙂

I love this story, though when I was told it, the storyteller was using it as a metaphor for religion, and the idea that while people of different faiths see religion as different things, we’re all talking about the same universe/spirit/higher power. Nice to see you applied this story to life itself, it certainly has a powerful message.

Your quite welcome, I really gotta give you credit for being so prompt about posting so frequently, not to mention your posts continue to be interesting and varied. I can’t say I’ve been doing as well, its difficult to find time as my spring semester is getting particularly work heavy. I am going to try to get a few more on there though with some upcoming days off I have, so look out for them. (and thanks for the encouragement!)

Haha you bet! I actually just started classes again myself, so I suspect the postings may slow down a bit, but I’m still gonna try.

For some reason, keeping up with my blog actually makes me a bit more productive… I plan my time differently based on wanting to do it and have time still for whatever else. It’s interesting. I’ve been thinking about starting a music blog too, but now I’m not sure if I have the time to be keeping 2 blogs, and making music regularly enough to be putting it on the music blog. But, it might just make me productive enough to get it done, haha